


I wish I wasn't always wrong (I wish I wasn't always alone)

by Bara_no_Uta



Series: Finding Meaning in [E]ternity [3]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: (sort of), 2B Needs a Hug, A2 Needs a Hug, Angst, F/F, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Game(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Suicidal Thoughts, Survivor Guilt, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26151547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bara_no_Uta/pseuds/Bara_no_Uta
Summary: She would just have to hope that they respected her wishes. Because she wanted to be left alone. She wanted to. That’s what she told herself. Whatever was malfunctioning in her chest, making it feel like it was being torn into pieces, she didn’t care. Maybe the malfunction would kill her. That would be fine too.That’s not what No. 4 would want, she thought to herself.Screw what No. 4 would want. She was dead! No. 4 had never asked her if she wanted to be left alone like this! She hadn’t ever given her a choice, just up and detonated herself. Why should she respect the last wishes of someone who didn’t care if she was being made to live against her will?!She told herself that she was avenging her comrades, but in truth, all she was doing was trying to make herself feel better. No matter who she killed, even if she obliterated every living being on the entire planet, they would still be every bit as dead.-A2 thinks she has a plan to bring back 6O and 21O. This does not mean, however, that she feels comfortable being looked up to as though she were a leader.
Relationships: 2B/A2 (NieR: Automata)
Series: Finding Meaning in [E]ternity [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892593
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	I wish I wasn't always wrong (I wish I wasn't always alone)

**Author's Note:**

> The situation referenced by 2B toward the end of the fic comes from the short story "Memory Thorn."
> 
> Fun fact, this was originally intended to be a pretty light, perhaps even a little fluffy installment. Instead, it ended up being very heavy. Both A2 and 2B have really been through too much. ; A; With that in mind, if there are any topics you're sensitive to, please be mindful of the tags.

On the way back to 9S and 2B’s home base, 2B stopped suddenly. Her companions stopped with her.

“…2B? What is it?” 9S asked.

She knelt down, touching the petals of a small flower, and felt her eyes grow wet again. She was tired of crying today and willed herself to keep her composure.

9S knelt down next to her. When he saw the flower, understanding dawned on him. “6O…” Even as he said her name, he couldn’t help thinking of his own Operator.

2B nodded, sadness washing over her until she felt like she could barely breathe. Even if one couldn’t have quite called them close, she had cared about 6O more than she ever let on. In all of the pain of losing 9S over and over again, 6O had remained a constant. For all that she could seem airheaded at times, in some ways 2B had relied on that cheerful attitude to find the strength to keep going.

After a few minutes, 2B stood. “Let’s keep going.” Walking helped clear her head. “By the way, 9S. Now that the virus is gone… do you think there’s any chance that 21O…?” 2B knew that 21O had come down to Earth reassigned as a B-type to aid in the all-out attack, and she could only assume her to have become infected, but she hadn’t actually seen her at all.

He shook his head. Despite himself, he found his gaze drifting toward A2. He knew it wasn’t fair to blame her, considering that 21O would have certainly killed him had she not come to his rescue. Still, watching her strike down his Operator… “She was destroyed,” he said quietly. “She had to be.”

“I’m sorry,” 2B murmured. There was little else she could say.

“Me too.”

A2 hesitated, considering a possibility and thinking over the logistics of her idea alone. If there were any flaws in the plan such that it would be impossible, it would be kinder not to say anything at all. Instead, she waited until they got to 9S and 2B’s home base.

“2B, can I borrow your pod for a bit?”

The request seemed to surprise her, but she nodded. “Sure. Pod, assist A2 and follow her requests.”

“Thanks. I’ll be back soon.” She was glad that the Pod didn’t have quite enough personality to make some sort of snarky comment about her request in comparison to her reluctance to work with it before.

Giving no explanation as to what she was up to, A2 left. 2B and 9S looked at each other and shrugged, chalking it up to her generally seeming mysterious and not much one for words.

A2 wandered far enough away that she felt confident that they were out of earshot. “Pod, lead me to the nearest access point.”

“Understood: Marking it on the map.”

Once it was marked, A2 made her way over. Upon arrival, she opened it up and started looking through the bodies. “Help me find parts for a Number 6 unit.”

Together, they laid out enough parts that they could have assembled a Number 6 unit if they had the appropriate consciousness and personal data.

“Beginning search for Number 21 unit parts,” Pod said.

A2 smiled, appreciating that it had caught on. Soon, they had two bodies laid out. It would take a bit of work to assemble them, but the important thing for right now had been to ensure that they even had the requisite parts. “Search all remaining servers for backups from 6O and 21O until you find a hit.”

She didn’t know where specifically the backups were kept. Her biggest hesitation had been that for all she knew, the backups were destroyed along with the Bunker. If she had brought up this plan only to learn that, then she would have given 9S and 2B false hope only to let them down. She didn’t want that.

“Understood: Searching.”

While he was searching, she began to assemble the bodies. If there were no hits found, then there wouldn’t really be anything to do with them, but there was no harm in it and she didn’t like sitting around with nothing to do.

It was nearly 20 minutes later that Pod spoke up again. “Discovery: 6O and 21O backup data located on moon server.”

“Can you confirm if the data is intact? Maybe something from before the infection?” The very last thing they needed was to bring them back corrupted. It shouldn’t be possible, but it was still a risk she didn’t want to take. From what she saw in 2B’s memories, the infection seemed to have spread so quickly that there wouldn’t be much lost in doing it this way, so it simply seemed a needless risk.

Pod scanned the data, then reported, “Unit 6O backup created approximately 4 hours prior to infection. Unit 21O backup created prior to reassignment: 8 hours prior to infection. All data appears to be intact.”

Good. Then there was a chance that this could really work. “Begin downloading backup data.” Where the data needed to be downloaded to ought to be obvious enough as to not need to be stated, she decided, given they had just laid the bodies out.

“Beginning download. Approximately 3,092 hours remaining.”

It was a lot of data to download all the way from the moon without a closer server, so she supposed it wasn’t terribly surprising. Still, that was more than four months.

On the other hand, considering the length of an android lifespan, four months was remarkably short. She only wondered whether she should tell them now, or if she should wait until closer-to. …No, she should tell them now and spare them the grief. There was no need to mourn those who could be brought back after all.

Those who could be brought back… Unbidden, a question came to mind. It was only moments later that she dismissed it, though. There was little chance that they would still keep backup data from prototype units. Surely now they only had the template that they used for similar personality types, undoubtedly changed based on what failed during her squadron’s mission.

They might have Number 4 model personality data. But they wouldn’t have backup data from A4.

Trying her hardest not to think about that, A2 decided to head back. “Mark destination as 2B’s location.”

“Understood: Marked on the map.”

She headed back to their home base. When she arrived, she found them sitting on the floor. Deciding to join them, she took a seat next to 2B.

“I had an idea,” A2 said, running a hand through her hair. “I wanted to make sure it was viable before I said anything.” The weight of their expectation on her made her feel uneasy. Even so, for the sake of saving their loved ones… “Their data is backed up on the moon server, and the parts for their bodies are in the access points.” The chips may make them B-types instead of O-types, but that wasn’t particularly important anymore. “It’s going to take a while, but Pod is downloading their backup data. They were both backed up a bit before they got infected.”

2B’s eyes widened, an earnest and hopeful expression on her face. “You mean…?”

Why did she suddenly feel as though components in her chest were being squeezed? “Yeah. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to bring them back.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. The words didn’t feel like enough, but she didn’t know what else to say.

“…Don’t mention it.”

Deciding not to press it for now, 2B changed the subject. “9S and I were just talking about what to do now that we don’t have a mission anymore. There are still machines in other places on the Earth, but if there are no more humans left to take Earth back… and knowing that machines can learn and become good… maybe it’s time to find a new role.”

She still didn’t feel entirely convinced that a machine could be good. Pascal and his village seemed to be an exception, but just look at how that had turned out: devouring one another. But perhaps this was for the better. 2B and 9S would be free from having to fight. And if her own mission hadn’t changed, then it would be a simple matter to be around less and less often before eventually disappearing to pursue her own mission.

That would be better. That way, she wouldn’t put 2B or 9S in danger.

“Yeah, you could pretty much do anything you want,” A2 said.

“It’s a lot to take in,” 2B confessed. “What mission have you been pursuing?”

She didn’t really want to answer that. Admitting that it was a quest for vengeance… it just felt too personal. She took some time to think about the best way to answer. “My mission is different from what yours will be.”

“We could help you.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got it handled.”

2B seemed dissatisfied with that answer, but didn’t push it. Despite the closeness she felt after having depended on A2 and entrusted A2 with her memories, the fact remained that in reality, they didn’t actually know each other all that well. If A2 didn’t want to share, she should respect that.

…She didn’t like seeing 2B look disappointed like that. Why did it bother her so much? It wasn’t as though she thought 2B couldn’t handle a bit of disappointment… Maybe in some ways she saw her younger self in her. Although actually, thinking that to herself, she found the comparison somehow a bit unsettling, so maybe that wasn’t it. “You should find your own meaning, 2B. You have time now, so try different things. Find something that makes you happy.”

What made her happy? But… what made her happiest was just spending time with those she cared for. Anyway, was it really acceptable to pursue nothing more than her own happiness and theirs? After believing herself to be pursuing such a noble goal as making the world inhabitable again for humans, she felt small and selfish to be prioritizing what she wanted. “Is that what you do? What makes you happy?”

She didn’t like that question. There was no good way to avoid it, or it became all too clear that the answer was no. But in her case, it felt more complicated than that. It wasn’t that she didn’t do what made her happy; it was that she believed herself unable to feel happiness after the loss of her squadron, and even on the small chance she wasn’t _unable_ , certainly undeserving.

A2’s gaze hardened as she sought a way to avoid the question. Yet, wasn’t staying silent so long an answer itself? “Don’t worry so much about what I do,” she shot back, instinctively pushing 2B away.

As soon as she saw the hurt in 2B’s expression, she regretted her hasty response, but now it was too late to take it back.

Not wanting either of them to feel hurt and feeling he owed A2 anyway, 9S decided to step in. He couldn’t tell exactly what wasn’t being said here, but his intuitive capabilities were high enough he had a clear enough idea to try to mediate.

A2 was obviously trying to push them away, so the first thing would have to be calming her down. “A2, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But we’re just—you already know what you’re doing, but this is all new to us.”

Feeling bad for hurting 2B, she should have taken the opportunity to back down. But when she heard him turning to her for answers as though she was their leader, something in her snapped. A2 got to her feet. “I’m not your Commander. Figure it out yourselves.”

With that, she stormed away. 9S focused on his desire to comfort 2B and A2 focused on putting as much distance between herself and them as possible, no one noticed Pod 042 trailing after her. The official reason, it quickly communicated to Pod 153, was that 2B hadn’t revoked her request for it to assist A2. But unofficially… Pod 042 suspected accompanying A2 was what would be most helpful right now. There were indications of psychological distress in her functioning, and Pod had observed that androids’ psychological functioning often seemed to deteriorate further when distressed and then left alone.

A2 walked and walked, until finally she decided she had gone far enough and tucked herself into an abandoned building. She stayed out of sight from the entrance and all windows, ensuring she wouldn’t be seen if one of them came looking for her. Not that it made much difference, since they could easily set their pods to track Black Boxes. There should only be four Black Boxes online in the entire world right now – the two of them, herself, and Popola – so if they did that, it wouldn’t be at all difficult for them to find her.

She would just have to hope that they respected her wishes. Because she _wanted_ to be left alone. She _wanted_ to. That’s what she told herself. Whatever was malfunctioning in her chest, making it feel like it was being torn into pieces, she didn’t care. Maybe the malfunction would kill her. That would be fine too.

_That’s not what No. 4 would want,_ she thought to herself.

Screw what No. 4 would want. She was dead! No. 4 had never asked her if she wanted to be left alone like this! She hadn’t ever given her a choice, just up and detonated herself. Why should she respect the last wishes of someone who didn’t care if she was being made to live against her will?!

She told herself that she was avenging her comrades, but in truth, all she was doing was trying to make herself feel better. No matter who she killed, even if she obliterated every living being on the entire planet, they would still be every bit as dead.

Emotions were flooding her so unbearably that she wanted to just crawl out of her skin. Normally when she started to think about her comrades, she would go fight machines until she was too exhausted and physically pained to think. But right now, she had no way to even know where the nearest machine was.

Before, there were so many machines around that it seemed you couldn’t walk ten feet without running into at least a few. Now, she wasn’t sure how wide an area they had vacated from.

Well, if she just started walking and didn’t stop until she ran into some machines, she was sure to find some eventually.

A2 got back to her feet, checked which direction her footprints had come from, and started walking in the opposite direction. She still hadn’t noticed Pod.

Much as Pod had come along with the intention to help, it wasn’t exactly as though pods were programmed to know how to provide emotional support. As such, Pod had been trying to stay out of her way until finding something helpful to say. It was still a struggle for the pods to disobey a direct order, so if she said to go away, that would put Pod in a difficult position. Besides, Pod had also observed that the wrong words could also increase an android’s psychological distress.

It was a while of A2 running on ahead until Pod finally spoke up. “Unit A2 is moving further away from units 2B and 9S.”

She jumped at the sound of the pod’s voice. “What the _hell_ are you doing here?!”

“Unit 2B’s most recent request was for this pod to assist unit A2.”

“You can assist me by leaving me the fuck alone. Go back to 2B.”

“Negative: Based on unit A2’s psychological state, this pod does not believe that leaving will provide assistance.”

A2 grit her teeth, knowing from experience that there was little she could do to convince the pod to leave her alone. “Fine. Resume goal of killing every damn machine.”

“Understood. Current goal: kill every machine. However, fighting in your current psychological state is not recommended. Fighting while under high amounts of psychological distress can increase risk—”

“I don’t care.”

Meanwhile, 2B was shaking her head. “I’m worried about her, 9S. I don’t know why, but I think she’s pushing us away.”

That much was obvious, but if A2 was hell-bent on pushing them away, what were they supposed to do about it? At the same time, he understood. After all, when 2B had tried to push him away, it wasn’t like he had given up and accepted that either, even when he thought it was his first time meeting her.

She bit her lip. “I don’t… I don’t want her to be alone. I’m going after her.” She didn’t really care if she was yelled at right now. Not if it meant keeping A2 from pushing her away. Just as 6O and 9S hadn’t given up on her, she wouldn’t give up on A2. “Pod, set mode to Black Box location.”

It was a few seconds before Pod 153 spoke up. “Report: Pod 042 chose to continue following order to assist A2. However, this pod is equipped to track Black Boxes as well.”

9S didn’t hesitate to allow her to use his pod. He would give her anything he had, no questions asked. “Do you want me to come with you?”

She thought about it, then shook her head. “She may prefer it to only be one of us.”

“She’ll feel more comfortable with you,” 9S said, which worked out since 2B felt more strongly about this than he did anyway. He didn’t dislike A2. In some ways, he thought now, she was a lot like 2B, with unexpected compassion under that cold exterior. But after getting off to such a rocky start and then having her hurt 2B’s feelings by pushing them away, it would just take him a while longer to really warm up to her. “Pod, look after 2B.”

“Thank you, 9S.” She gave him a grateful smile. With that, she set it to track Black Boxes. Ignoring the one in the Resistance Camp, as well as those of herself and 9S, the only other one remaining had to be A2.

As he watched her go, he felt loneliness stir in his heart. He was sure 2B didn’t understand it yet herself, but he could tell. That devotion to someone she barely knew… the intensity of how 2B interacted with A2… the way she acted as though they were so much closer than they actually were… The feelings 2B held toward A2 weren’t the same as the feelings she held toward him.

And he was okay with that. What mattered the most was that 2B was happy. If A2 made her happy, then he was happy for her.

At first, as 2B chased after A2, the two were running in the same direction at just about the same speed. But after a while, A2 seemed to have found what she was looking for, because she was staying in one area. She was moving around that area quite a bit, though – what could she be doing?

As she got closer, A2 moved on to another area and repeated the same patterns of movement, this time a bit slower. 2B frowned, recognizing the pattern of movement from her own datasets – the first few of which had been programmed into her based on none other but A2’s battle data – but having trouble figuring out why A2 would be fighting.

When she came across the first set of machine corpses, there was no denying it, though.

Finally, she found A2 engaged in an intense battle. It seemed she had aggroed a number of machines to make them gather around her in a circle. A2 was short of breath, her body covered in minor injuries.

2B drew her sword and started helping her take out the machines.

“What are you doing?!” A2 shouted over the clang of metal against metal.

Her focus half diverted by fighting the machines, 2B shouted back, “Fighting with you.”

“Thank you, that wasn’t obvious!”

2B didn’t take the bait. Instead, she continued fighting at the machines. The two of them fought together until the last machine dropped.

Acting as if 2B hadn’t shown up, A2 started to move onto the next area.

Worried about her, 2B rushed to grab her arm. It wasn’t enough that she was physically preventing A2 from moving if the other was determined, but more like a request for her to stop. “A2. At least catch your breath.”

“Don’t want to.”

When A2 stepped away, 2B didn’t make any attempt to stop her. A2 had been surviving on her own for years, so she was sure A2 knew her own limits by now. And if there was a disregard for those limits such that A2 was knowingly putting her life in danger… 2B felt pretty confident in her ability to protect her.

So for now, she would stay by her side and let A2 deal with her feelings in the way that, presumably, she was used to.

A2 repeated the same process in the next area, darting off to aggro every machine she could locate in an effort to get them surrounding her.

Since they tended to notice other machines nearby in battle anyway, that tended to be the result no matter what. Maybe A2 found it more efficient so it wouldn’t take her by surprise?

By the time they finished with this round of machines, A2 was leaning on her sword as though she could barely stand.

Hoping A2 would see reason now, 2B stepped in front of her. “Okay, time to take a break.”

She hesitated, but gasping for air such that her lungs burned and she wasn’t sure she could speak, she recognized that she had little choice at this point but to concede. She nodded.

Part of her wanted to retrace their steps a bit to ensure they got some distance from the machines, but A2 looked like she could collapse any minute if they tried to walk, so she just sat down right there among the broken machines.

2B sat with her, silent save for the sound of A2 attempting to catch her breath. She had chased after her without really thinking through what to say. The last thing she wanted was to upset her further. After some time, she decided on, “You don’t have to say anything.”

She was well aware that she didn’t really understand why A2 had gotten so upset, but she could only guess that some of it may have been a matter of feeling put on the spot.

A2 decided to take her up on that offer by decidedly not saying a word.

She wasn’t used to this, just sitting in silence with someone without _doing_ anything. Her hands were starting to feel restless. “Can I tend to your injuries?”

“No. But you should tend to your own.”

A2 was being moderately infuriating, but 2B was sure that was intentional. She wasn’t going to let herself be discouraged. She did start tending to her own injuries, intentionally leaving the supplies between them so that A2 could use some if she wanted.

She didn’t. Truthfully, A2 was still tempted to go fight some more, but she was worried that 2B would get hurt trying to follow her.

After several long minutes, A2 finally spoke again. “Why did you follow me?”

It was a little irritating if A2 expected answers from her, but wasn’t willing to answer any of her questions. But the fact that they were talking now was progress. “Because I didn’t want you to be alone.”

“What if I wanted to be alone?”

“Does anybody really want to be alone?” There was a nuance to the way she said ‘alone.’ It was one thing to be alone for a finite period of time; she was sure many did in fact want that at times, herself included. It was another thing for someone to push everyone away and run off, possibly with the intention of being alone indefinitely.

“Answering a question with a question,” she grumbled. It was the only comeback she could come up with.

Satisfied that A2 understood her point, there was no need to hammer it in further. Still… she was asking A2 to open up, and maybe…

Oddly enough, maybe part of her wanted to open up to A2, as well.

She had spent such a long time never opening up to anyone if she could help it. And yet, with A2, it felt different. Maybe it was because she had already passed her memories to her. Just about every reason she normally might have to be reluctant to open up were rendered a non-issue, because in a way she wasn’t even really opening up – she was just talking about things A2 already knew about her.

“I thought for a long time that it was better if I didn’t let myself get close to anyone. And maybe in the cycle I was trapped in, it _was_ better. But… I…’m not trapped anymore.”

A2 didn’t say anything. She was glad 2B wasn’t trapped anymore, but she already had a sense of the direction this was going in. She would be willing to bet that 2B’s next words were going to be something naïve claiming that A2 wasn’t trapped either, and as such should let herself be close to others so she could be happy. It made her angry to think about, because 2B didn’t have any idea what she had been through.

Sadly, the idea of telling her did not so much as cross A2’s mind.

“A2, if you’re feeling trapped, let me help you. You don’t have to do it alone.”

Anger choked out her rational thought again. She unsheathed her sword and placed it across 2B’s lap before shifting to face her, arms slightly outstretched. “Fine. You don’t want me to be trapped anymore? You want to help me get out of being trapped? Then kill me. Right now.”

She wanted to respond, and she wanted to be there for A2, but her memory—

_“I see… 2B wasn’t your actual name, huh. 2E.”_

_“I don’t intend to kill you anymore. So kill me. At the very least, I want to die by your hands.”_

She shuddered, throwing the sword away from herself as she desperately tried to claw her way out of the flashback.

Instantly, A2 knew she had gone too far. She dropped her arms. “2B? 2B, hey, come back to me.”

2B was so tense her body trembled slightly, tears falling without her permission. “A2…”

A2 had had enough flashbacks to know one when she saw it, and she mentally kicked herself for causing this. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down enough to help 2B through the pain _she_ had caused. “I’m sorry. I went too far.”

“Yeah, you did.” She wiped at her tears. “But if you were telling the truth, I’m glad you did.”

A2 shifted, preferring to focus on comforting 2B than getting into that subject right now. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

2B nodded, and gently, A2 brought her into a hug. Number 4 had done this for her once when she was sad, and it had made her feel so much better. Even years later, the memory left a strong impression on her.

“I’m not used to this,” A2 murmured, if only because she was pretty sure that was obvious by now.

“That’s okay.”

She didn’t want to hurt 2B ever again. Unfortunately, the only way she could think of to avoid hurting her was to disappear, and it was pretty obvious by now that would hurt her as well. Maybe it would still hurt her less in the long run. Still, not really sure what specifically had caused the flashback, A2 wanted to be more careful in what she said. Exhaling slowly, she admitted, “I was telling the truth. But I didn’t need to say it like that.”

She already felt herself starting to calm down. It… was actually pretty nice to let someone be there for her, she couldn’t help but to think. “I won’t kill you. There has to be a better way.”

The more she thought about what she said in light of 2B’s experiences, the more she realized how cruel asking 2B to kill her really was. She felt ashamed of ever saying the words. There was no way to take them back now, though. All she could do was try to do better moving forward. And maybe, right now, that meant to stop pushing her away for a few minutes and actually speak honestly. “What if the cycle I’m trapped in is losing every single person I care about?”

Maybe she shouldn’t say that now that she knew Anemone was alive, but that was such a recent discovery in comparison to the years she had believed herself the sole survivor that the words came automatically once she resolved to voice the fear.

2B hugged A2 just a bit tighter, searching for words. Originally the hug had been to comfort her, but now it was for A2’s sake that she didn’t want to let go. She couldn’t even begin to guess how much pain A2 must be carrying, and the hardest part about it was that it wasn’t as though she could promise she wouldn’t ever die. “Then we make sure to ask for help if we need it. And we don’t _have_ to fight anymore… We could even go to the Land of Night.” She had heard that it was safe there, because machines couldn’t survive without any sunlight.

What would she live for, if not vengeance? Well, she could take her own advice and pursue happiness.

As if she deserved happiness.

But that’s what No. 4 would have wanted for her. Of that, she was certain. No. 4… wouldn’t have wanted her to punish herself.

“I need some time to think about what I want,” A2 said. “But I’ll… try not to push you away anymore.”

“I would like that.”

A2 felt her body actually start to relax. She was still scared, but… somehow, things felt easier to bear right now.

2B was still going back and forth on whether she even wanted to ask her next question, but she wasn’t sure she could let go of the concern without voicing it. “A2. When you ran off into the machines, were you intentionally trying to get yourself killed?”

“No.” Her fighting style was reckless, but she wasn’t actively trying to die. If she really and truly had made up her mind to end things, all she would really need to do was remove her own OS chip, after all. But… maybe she was being needlessly reckless on purpose, in an effort to tempt fate. “…Not quite intentionally.”

The answer was ‘no’ on the surface, and yet the unspoken words made it sound far more like a ‘yes’ than she had hoped would be true. “I would be sad if you died. Please don’t throw your life away.”

So many people telling her to live. “Okay. …I’ll try.” With that, she pulled away. She stood and collected her sword. This was all the heavy conversation she could handle for one day.

“Let’s go home,” 2B said after gathering her recovery items. It felt like an abrupt end to the conversation, but she could recognize what a long and emotionally exhausting day it had been for both of them.

Home. She started walking in the direction their footprints came from. After a few paces, she paused, looked at 2B as though about to say something, and then resumed walking. Once they had fallen back in sync walking, it felt slightly easier to get the words out. “Thank you, 2B.”

“…You’re welcome.”


End file.
